Posted on 10/03/2004 4:50:39 PM PDT by FairOpinion
The dangers of Baghdad and a shortage of cash have set back the U.S. effort to put Iraqi weapons scientists to work rebuilding their country and keep them off the global job market for makers of doomsday arms.
To steer them to civilian projects and training, the State Department had planned a dozen workshops and seminars for hundreds of idled specialists from Iraq's old nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programs, beginning in the first half of 2004.
But the department got no new funds for the program, and none of these plans has gotten off the ground, nine months after U.S. officials said they would "jump-start" the initiative to discourage weapons experts from emigrating and offering their services to the highest bidder.
Such nearby countries as Syria, Iran and Egypt are believed to have programs in unconventional weapons that might benefit from Iraqi expertise.
This is an "imminent danger," said one of the Iraqi experts, Mahdi Obeidi.
"I hear there are some cases where scientists have left Iraq. There's a concern of proliferation, and this should be controlled," said Obeidi, an engineer and key figure in Iraq's effort to build nuclear bombs in the 1980s.
His council estimates Iraq has between 2,000 and 4,000 "WMD scientists." The State Department hopes to focus on 500 key physicists, chemists, biologists and others. Although not yet working on projects, 50 of those are receiving U.S. retainer payments - amounts undisclosed. A dozen others have been in U.S. detention since last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at bradenton.com ...
Please explain this, Mr. Kerry!
They must have been a busy bunch.
more of them should have been jailed.
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